DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Fertilizer producer CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) made yet
another offer for rival Terra Industries Inc. (TRA), this time in a
deal worth roughly $4.72 billion in cash and stock.
CF shares were down 7.1% premarket at $99.86 while Terra shares
were up 11.9% at $46.10.
The latest CF offer is for $37.15 in cash and 0.0953 CF share
for each Terra share. That values Terra at $47.40, based on
Monday's closing price. CF's most-recent bid was $36.75 and 0.1034
share.
The move comes after Norway's Yara International ASA (YARIY,
YAR.OS) agreed last month to pay $4.1 billion, or $41.10 a share in
cash, for Terra, a pure-play nitrogen producer. That friendly deal
was less than the hostile takeover offer CF had dropped weeks
earlier after its own year-long pursuit of Terra.
CF Industries Chairman and Chief Executive Stephen R. Wilson
said, "It is clear that CF Industries is the best acquirer for
Terra" based on the "substantial synergies" the two firms can only
achieve together.
"We withdrew our prior offer because we believed that Terra was
unwilling to agree to a sale," he said. "Now that Terra is for
sale, we have made an offer that is superior to Yara's
substantially lower, highly conditional offer."
A Terra spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment.
-By Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2291;
joan.solsman@dowjones.com